Despite an injured leg, Shreyas claims six-wicket haul as Podar clinch title

Podar College all-rounder Shreyas Iyer's six-wicket haul helped his team lift the two-day inter-collegiate Saqib Rizvi Memorial Trophy after a gap of eight years at MIG Cricket Club yesterday with a massive 241-run win over Ruparel College.


Shreyas Iyer with the winner's trophy yesterday. Pics/Suresh KK

Resuming from their overnight total of 329-5, Podar declared their innings at 351-5. Later, it was a superlative bowling performance by leg spinner Iyer (who injured his left leg during fielding) that helped Podar bundle out Ruparel College for a mere 110 runs in 39.2 overs. Shreyas bowled 9.2 overs for an impressive haul of six for 13.

Arjun Tendulkar at the MIG nets yesterday

Podar skipper Abhishek Rajadhyaksha picked up two crucial wickets, of opener Devvrat Singh and Ruparel skipper Vikrant Auti for a duck. Sairaj Sangle (36) was the top run-scorer for Ruparel. "I hurt my leg during fielding. But I wanted to go out there and bowl the opposition out. The pain was there but I ignored it. It was only when the match got over that I could feel the pain. But the joy of winning the inter-collegiate title helped me forget the pain," said Iyer who scored 379 runs and scalped 11 wickets in the tournament.

Iyer (17) credited his coaches at Amre's Cricket Clinic -- Padmakar Shivalkar and Pravin Amre for moulding him as a cricketer.u00a0 But he informed that it was his stint as a ball boy in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Wankhede that got him closer to his cricketing dreams.

"Though I learnt a lot training under Amre sir. I picked up smaller nuances of the game watching batting greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Andrew Symonds, Kieron Pollard bat in the Mumbai Indians nets during last year's IPL. Those moments gave me the confidence to purse cricket seriously," added the Worli resident.

Brief scores
Podar College 351-5 defeated Ruparel College 110 (Shreyas Iyer 6-13) by 241 runs